1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning a gun barrel, which can clean an inner surface of a gun barrel having striations separately for the respective striations.
2. Description of Related Art
After a shell is fired, alien substances produced due to the combustion of gun powder and ammunition are adhered to the inner surface of the gun barrel, and this lowers the accuracy of the shell being fired. Accordingly, after the gun barrel is used, the alien substances stuck on the inside of the gun barrel are removed and anti-corrosive oil is sprayed.
Typically, firearms having large-sized gun barrels such as self-propelled artilleries and towed howitzers are limited in disassembly, cleaning, and lubrication when they are repaired and maintained, as compared with common rifles which are individual carrying firearms.
In particular, the cleaning and washing of an inner surface of a gun barrel is performed in a manner that a brush is fixed to an end part of a connection rod, and the repetitive pushing/pulling operation of the connection rod into/from the gun barrel removes alien substances remaining in the gun barrel after firing. This cleaning process requires lots of hands and physical strength, and thus is hardly performed for many hours.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of apparatuses for automatically cleaning a gun barrel in the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, one apparatus for automatically cleaning a gun barrel in the related art includes a drive unit 20, a cleaning unit 30 and a spray unit 40 which are installed between drive motors 20a and 20b. Another apparatus for automatically cleaning a gun barrel in the related art as illustrated in FIG. 2 includes a gear housing 50, a main shaft 60, a sun gear 70, a planet gear 80, and an external gear 90.
These cleaning apparatuses in the related art use a method of cleaning an inner surface of the gun barrel whereby the cleaning apparatus rotates or moves cleaning members provided thereon forward/backward as it enters along the inner surface of the gun barrel using the drive motors.
However, the above-described cleaning apparatuses in the related art have the drawbacks in that they are not effective in cleaning the inner surface of the gun barrel in the case where striations are formed on the inner surface of the gun barrel to give a rotating force to the fired shell.
Also, if the cleaning members which clean the inner surface of the gun barrel are worn out, the cleaning work is ineffectively performed.
Also, it is difficult to replace the cleaning members.
Also, if the cleaning members secede from the gun barrel, they may not be accurately restored to their original positions.